Far From the Tree
by Kirixchi
Summary: Loved, hated, but never ignored- Alex Krycek is more than just a foil to Mulder and Scully as they try to uncover the Syndicate's plan. He was once a lover, a husband and a father. His past is still a part of him, even though he tries to break away.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Alex Krycek, Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, A.D. Skinner, the Cigarette Smoking Man, and just about every other thing in the Universe are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Broadcasting. I am writing this story to exercise my sick little imagination- not to step on their turf. This is a rewrite of a story that I originally published in July 1997. The story begins just after Season 4 between "Terma" and "Patient X"

**FAR FROM THE TREE**

**

* * *

**

He had stared at the photograph for so long that the faces had blurred to unrecognizability. Like a word repeated too many times aloud, the image had been stripped of its meaning. The figures in the photograph were merely four, smiling blobs of color, floating midair in front of the sea.

Fox Mulder closed his eyes and tried to regain his focus. The phantom image of his family lingered in his mind, calling up the memories of that long lost day. He remembered sweet Samantha-only four years old- adorable in her sailor-collared swimsuit padding around the beach trying to keep up with her older brother. He thought of his mother, always so serene, sitting on a blanket just at the edge of the dunes, keeping a sharp eye on the siblings every move. He conjured the face of his father for an instant, and then opened his eyes as he forcefully pushed the creeping doubts from his mind and began to study the photograph once again. He poured over every grainy point of the surface, searching Bill Mulder's features desperately for the reassurance he so longed to find.

"You're in early."

Scully's voice jarred Mulder back into consciousness.

"What?" He asked, still disoriented, still fighting back his doubts.

"I said you're in awfully early for a Friday."

"Late, actually," Mulder said, after glancing sheepishly at the clock. He ran a hand through his rumpled hair, slowly emerging from his mental cocoon. "I came in to finish some paperwork and got...distracted I guess."

"Finishing up paperwork?" Scully arched an eyebrow. "Where is the real Fox Mulder and what have you done with him?"

Fox managed a slight grin before explaining. "Okay- so I'm not a pencil pusher. I admit it- and I almost ducked the call when Administration buzzed in last night to bitch about unsigned 302's…but when they told me which ones they were, my natural curiosity took hold." He paused for dramatic effect. "It seems that my beloved ex-partner left behind some unfinished business."

"Ex-partner?" Scully shook her head in confusion. Fox didn't answer. He watched her face and waited for realization to dawn. It only took a few seconds. Scully's eyes bulged. "Alex Krycek?" she gasped at last.

"The rat himself." Mulder acknowledged her guess with a nod and then gestured toward a teetering stack of manila folders. He selected one from the top and flipped it open to an unfinished report. "They did an audit upstairs and need someone to sign off on the reports to close the files…guess who got elected."

Mechanically, Mulder signed the document in front of him, flipped quickly through the pages, and then set it aside and selected another folder from the stack.

"You aren't bothering to read them?" Scully's voice was thick with disapproval.

Mulder shrugged. "I skimmed the first few...from what I can tell, our favorite G-man spent most of his time chasing down people who pull the tags off their mattresses."

Scully smiled and poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting down beside her partner. She reached toward the stack and picked up the folder on top. When she flipped it open, a yellow post-it note fluttered to the floor.

_"Copy number from Rolodex"_ was scrawled across the paper in what she recognized as Alex Krycek's barely legible script. Scully bent down to retrieve it, but hesitated before replacing it into the file. She read the name on the tab of the folder and frowned.

"Something wrong, Scully?" Mulder asked. His pen hovered mid-air above another signature page.

"I don't know." A frown creased Scully's face as she scanned the documents inside the file. "This is a surveillance request for Dr. Harry Rickman."

"That name mean something to you?"

"The report cites suspicion of drug trafficking"

"You think it's something more?"

"Not necessarily...but...I don't know, Mulder. It just seems ...curious. I read about Rickman in Doctor Carne-Sayer's journals. She's the scientist who was going to examine the meteor fragment that we intercepted with Krycek's help. Doctor Rickman is a toxicologist who worked on smallpox vaccines."

Mulder's interest was piqued. "So Krycek may have had a less than noble interest in keeping tabs on the good doctor?"

"Otherwise it's one hell of a coincidence."

"Does the file say anything else about what Alex was looking for? Are there any clues?"

Scully hurriedly skimmed the remaining pages. "Maybe this," she said, detaching another post-it note from the final page, _'Call Casey Milk_'" Scully turned the slip over in her hand and eyed it closely. "I have to admit that it doesn't look like Alex's handwriting though."

Mulder took the note and examined it before nodding in agreement. Then he hurried to his computer and began a search for Casey Milk.

"Damn!" he exclaimed after fifteen minutes of fruitless searching,"No matches...But…wait- didn't the other note say something about a Rolodex? Maybe we could find it there?"

"A Rolodex?" Scully asked, her tone clearly implying that she didn't think for one second that it would be that easy. "Do you think Krycek would have left one?"

Mulder shrugged, "He did clear out of the Bureau in a hurry- I don't guess it would hurt anything to go up to the fourth floor and ask."

* * *

"I still can't believe that Krycek had an office on the fourth floor," Scully grumbled as she and her partner strolled through the bright, if featureless hallway of the Hoover Building.

"Well, you know what they say, " Mulder replied with a wry grin, "Evil is it's own reward."

"That's VIRTUE, Mulder." Scully corrected him with an exasperated sigh. "_Virtue_ is its own reward."

Mulder grunted an acknowledgment, "That can't be right- virtue got me an office in the basement!"

They walked a few more minutes in silence until Mulder stopped in front a doorway and knocked.

"Come in!" A voice called to them from inside. Mulder opened the door and the two agents crossed the threshold into a small but sunny office. A fresh-faced young agent looked up from his computer, confusion on his face. " Uhh...can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm Agent Mulder" Fox said, without bothering to extend his hand, "This is Agent Scully. I called a few minutes ago about collecting my ex-partner's effects?"

"Oh, sure. " The younger man's face relaxed with recognition. "I was glad to get your call." The agent stood up and walked to the corner, where he retrieved a large cardboard box. "I was wondering when somebody would claim this junk- I trip over it all the time. When I first got this office my wife said-"

"Thanks. " Mulder said curtly, cutting him off, " We'll call if we need anything else." He turned on his heel and hurried back down the hallway with Scully following close behind him.

They waited until they were once again in the safety of their basement office before opening the carton, but they were barely across the threshold before Fox ripped off the lid and began rifling through the objects inside.

The top of the box was filled with knickknacks: there was a paperweight, Alex's Quantico Graduation certificate, an Army commendation and a few framed photographs...Mulder shoved them out of the way, uncovering the trove of paper buried underneath.

Scully paid more attention to the trinkets. "You never told me Krycek was married," she said, leafing through the photographs.

"He wasn't" Mulder made the pronouncement with certainty.

"Really?" Scully held out two more pictures for Mulder to examine.

The first was of Alex Krycek with his arm around a beautiful, dark-haired woman. The other was of Krycek, the same woman, and little boy that looked to be five or six years old.

Mulder dismissed the photo with contempt. "That has to be fake- slime like him would never be allowed to breed."

Scully shrugged and dropped the subject momentarily. A few seconds later she tapped Mulder on the shoulder.

"_Happy Birthday Daddy_" She read aloud from a handmade birthday card that had been illustrated with a childish drawing of father and son.

Mulder's confidence wavered. "Alex never mentioned anything about a family."

"Well, sit down so the shock doesn't kill you- but there are a lot of things Alex never told you."

Fox conceded the point. "Too bad that doesn't get us any closer to figuring out what he wanted with Doctor Rickman."

Scully nodded her head and returned to the task at hand. Both agents worked a few more minutes in silence. Then Mulder swore as he reached the bottom of the box.

"Nothing!" he exclaimed in frustration. "Now what are we going to do?"

Scully surveyed the contents of the box with a frown, but her expression changed when her sight rested on the stack of photographs once again. She picked it up a picture of Alex and the woman posing in front of a small blue house. "Maybe knowing Krycek had a family _does_ get us closer to finding out what he was up to."

"How do you figure?" Mulder asked her, unconvinced.

Scully ran her finger over the image of the dark-haired woman. "I wonder if _Mrs. Krycek_ knew what her husband was up to," she mused aloud.

Mulder finally managed a smile. "There's only one way to find out."

CONTINUED IN PART 2

* * *

NOTES: This is a revision of a previous work, so (if anyone in the world is still reading X-files fan fiction, much less Ratboy/OC fan fiction), updates should arrive fairly quick. If anyone out there would be my beta, I'd be grateful.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

* * *

It took most of the day to locate an address. As they had feared, all of Alex Krycek's FBI paperwork led to the same phony apartment that Mulder had found empty the day his ex-partner disappeared. Scully was nearly ready to concede that she had been wrong- that the photograph and card had been fakes- when she hit the jackpot in the back of the former agent's personnel file: Kryceks's health insurance enrollment form.

"Ekaterina A. Krycek age 26 and Niklas A. Krycek age ten," Scully read out triumphantly as she walked into Mulder's office with copies of the paperwork.

"Does it give an address?"

"2914 Cherry Blossom Court in Alexandria"

"Phone number?"

Scully shook her head in the affirmative. "I already tried calling, but no one picked up. I got an answering machine." She paused briefly but anticipated her partner's next question "There was no mention of Alex on the recording."

"At least we have a start," Mulder said. "I don't guess we really expected even Krycek to be dumb enough to live there. Still, we should be able to drag his whereabouts out of 'Ekaterina'"

"If she knows."

"What do you mean 'If she knows'? She's that dirt bag's wife!"

Scully rolled her eyes, "Mulder, practically the first thing women discover about men is that they are all liars."

"All?"

"_All_," she said pointedly.

Mulder chuckled, "Is that the voice of experience, Scully?"

She ignored the question and grabbed her coat and car keys.

"Still, I do think Mrs. Krycek warrants a visit. Shall we?"

Mulder nodded. "After you."

* * *

He didn't know exactly what he had expected Krycek's house to look like, but Mulder was surprised when they arrived at 2914 Cherry Blossom Court. It looked so shockingly normal: a modest Cape Cod with white vinyl siding. There was a pair of shady Maple trees in the front yard, and cheerful flower beds edged the sidewalk leading up to a red front door. It was the sort of house that would be at home on any street in any town anywhere in America- hardly what one would expect for a double-agent murderer.

The two agents walked to the front door and knocked. When there wasn't any answer, Scully knocked again and then stood on her tiptoes to peer through the fan of glass in the top of the door.

"Looks like nobody's home" she whispered to Mulder.

"Are you looking for Katya?" Mulder and Scully both swung around quickly at the sound of an unfamiliar voice.

An old woman in a blue housedress and faded gardening gloves was standing at the foot of the porch. "I saw you from across the street." The woman gestured over her shoulder to a yellow cottage on the other side of the road. "I thought I'd save you the trouble of waiting. She had to go pick Nik up from school again today. He's been fighting again, you know." The woman frowned, her tone and expression both clearly implying that she disapproved of the situation. "I don't expect her home until four o'clock- and then she has to go to work."

Mulder and Scully both looked at their watches in unison. It was two-fifteen. If the busybody neighbor was right, they were in for a long wait.

"Should we stay?" Scully asked, but almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, a silver car pulled into the driveway.

"Oh…" the old lady's lips pursed in a frown, as though she were offended to be proven wrong. "I guess it didn't take so long this time. She waved weakly in the direction of the car and then shuffled back to her own porch.

Mulder and Scully ignored the neighbor and concentrated on the new arrival. The car had tinted windows, which made it impossible to make out who was inside, but angry voices- yelling in a language that sounded like Russian- carried to where they were.

It was more than a minute before the car door opened. When it finally did, Mulder sucked in his breath at the sight of the woman who stepped outside.

Once again, Fox couldn't account for his astonishment. He had seen pictures of Mrs. Krycek, after all. His eyes swept over her body, noting the details. She was tall and slim, but with lush curves that attested to an Eastern European heritage. Her hair was raven black and her skin was almost translucent pale. All of those things were the same as in the photos- but the two dimensional images had failed to capture something vital- or else, the woman had changed. In the snapshots, Ekaterina Krycek had looked warm and inviting. The woman who stood before him now was anything but. She was still beautiful- breathtakingly so- but cold. Looking up at her bottle green eyes, Mulder was reminded of a statue carved out of ice.

"Who are you?"

The sound of a young boy's voice caught Mulder's attention. He had been so intent on drinking in the image of Ekaterina that he hadn't noticed the boy walking beside her. Luckily, his partner stepped forward.

"I'm Dana Scully and this is Fox Mulder," Scully said, brandishing her Bureau credentials. "We're Federal Agents with the FBI."

While his partner spoke, Mulder looked at younger Krycek. The child was older than he had been in the pictures. According to the insurance forms, Niklas was ten. Although his features were still boyish, he wore the same brittle expression as his mother, aging him further.

Mulder surrendered the last of his doubts that the "family" was a fake. This boy was definitely Alex Krycek's son. Beneath his childish features, the same strong jaw and cheekbones were beginning to show through. Nik's eyes were a paler green than his mother's. They would probably fade to hazel like Alex, and his lips- beyond simply being shaped like his father- were held in the same defiant expression that Krycek often wore.

"May I help you with something?" Ekaterina Krycek acknowledged the agents and got right to the point. She gave them only half of her attention as she maneuvered around them and unlocked the front door of her house.

"Are you Mrs. Alex Krycek?" Scully asked, adopting the same, strictly business tone as their subject.

At the mention of Alex's name Ekaterina's annoyed expression wavered. Something that looked like fear flickered across her face, but it was quickly hidden. She opened the door and shooed her son inside.

"Yes" she answered quietly.

"We'd like to ask you some questions about your husband."

Ekaterina frowned. "Can't it wait until later?" She glanced after Niklas. "My son got into some trouble today. We're really in the middle of something."

"No," Scully said curtly. "I'm afraid it can't."

Mrs. Krycek sighed and then held the door open to the agents. "In that case.." Her voice trailed off, but she motioned for them to enter.

Mulder and Scully followed her into the house, where they were led to a cheerful yellow kitchen. Ekaterina motioned for them to sit in chairs at the kitchen table. "Coffee?" she offered, before sitting down to join them.

"No thanks." Scully answered for both of them and then took a notepad from the breast pocket of her jacket. "Your name is Ekaterina Anyastasia Krycek?"

"You may call me Katya," the woman offered, nodding at the recitation of her formal name.

"Very well _Katya_..." Scully began again, "I'm sure you know why we're here."

"I'm afraid I don't." Katya's face was all innocence now. Her haughty froidure was gone. Mulder noted the change and couldn't help but wonder if the thaw was intentional. "You mentioned Alex…I assume it has something to do with him?"

"Where is he?" Scully asked bluntly.

Katya blinked as though shocked by the question. She didn't answer.

"Well?" Scully pressed.

"I don't know what to say" Ekaterina laughed hollowly, "He didn't come home from work one day- and then the FBI told me that he was dead."

"But you didn't believe them?" Mulder cut in. He had noted a hint of bitter sarcasm in Mrs. Krycek's tone, "Why?"

Katya bristled. "Why should I believe them when they send agents to ask me where he is?" She gave both agents a smug glare and then looked away. Her voice was softer and almost sad when she continued, "I would know if he were gone. I'd just feel it somehow."

"So you claim to be unaware of your husband's whereabouts?" Scully continued.

Katya shook her head.

"Mrs. Krycek, you are aware that lying to the FBI is a federal offense." Scully snapped, clearly annoyed by their lack of progress.

"Yes Agent Scully" the dark-haired woman answered tersely, "I am aware that lying to the FBI is a federal offense. My husband _was _a Special Agent, you know…Now if there's nothing else- I need to go talk to my son." She rose from her chair without waiting for an permission and started to walk away.

"Actually," Mulder stopped her by laying his hand against her arm, "There is one more thing. Did you ever hear Alex talk about a Doctor Harry Rickman?"

Something Mulder couldn't quite make out flashed behind Katya's eyes.

"No he's...I mean...yes." Katya seemed to be arguing with herself before she resolved on an answer. "I think I may have heard Alex mention that name a few times right before...right before he went away."

"Do you remember what he said?"

"No...I...I'm sorry, I...I don't remember...Alex was trying to talk to him, I think. Why? Did you find him?"

"I'm afraid that's a matter of FBI business." Scully said tartly.

Mulder stepped in, softening his voice to compensate for Scully's

harshness, "He works at Oakview Manor Nursing Home in Bethesda. We're going to talk to him this afternoon. Any background you could give us on his dealings with Alex- or why Alex was trying to reach him- would be very helpful."

"I'm afraid I just don't know anything...Alex didn't...he didn't talk to me about work."

Mulder scrutinized her face, hunting for signs of deception.

Instead, to his amazement, he found traces of tears barely contained from brimming over her lids. Mulder was stunned. It was hard enough for him to imagine Alex married- could someone actually love him? Katya noticed his staring. She blinked her eyes and looked away. Mulder felt a pang of guilt for witnessing her private pain.

Beside him, Scully opened her mouth. She seemed prepared to press on with questioning, but Mulder cut in before she had the chance. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to protect Katya from anymore painful memories.

"Well, if you remember anything else, please give us a call." He handed Mrs. Krycek his business card. Scully opened her mouth to protest but Mulder steered her toward the door.

Katya took the card and turned it over with one hand while she dabbed at the rims of her eyes with the back of the other.

"Thank you Agent Mulder." She said, in a small, quiet voice." I will."

They moved toward the door, but Scully resisted Mulder's herding long enough to stop and turn around. "One more thing," Scully said. She fished a crumpled bit of paper out of her pocket. "Do you recognize this handwriting?"

Katya watched with interest as the other woman laid a yellow post-it note on the table.

"Yes." The vestiges of a smile returned to Katya's face. "It's my writing."

"Who is Casey Milk?" Scully demanded.

"What?" Katya asked, confused.

"We found this note inside Dr. Rickman's file," Scully said brusquely. "We need to contact Mr. Milk as well."

At last, the smile broke across Katya's face, transforming her into the woman in the photographs once again.

"There is no Mr. Milk," she said firmly. "Well- I mean, Anita Casey was Niky's teacher last year. She has a husband, I guess-but the second part was just to remind Alex to bring some groceries home!"

Scully muttered an embarrassed "Thank You" and finally followed her partner to the car.

"Me-ow!" Mulder exclaimed as he slid into the driver's seat.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Scully asked, defiantly.

"You didn't seem to get along too well with Mrs. Krycek."

"Oh, Come on, Mulder. The woman was a total fake! She knows exactly where Krycek is- she was schmoozing up to you to avoid answering our questions."

"What ever happened to 'all men are liars'? You're suddenly sure that she knows about Alex?"

Scully rolled her eyes. "I think she knows where to start looking, at least. Let's just say, she didn't look like a heartbroken young widow to me."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

* * *

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Watch yourself- stupid bitch!"

Alex Krycek glanced up from the glass of whisky that he was nursing and glanced across the seedy dockside bar toward the sound of the commotion. An American sailor was sitting in the middle of a gaggle of prostitutes, pissing away the half million dollars that he had blackmailed out of his employer, one shot of tequila at a time. The man was a blowhard, expounding on his ocean adventures in a booming voice, pausing occasionally to insult one of the whores and to contemplate aloud which one of them he was going to take to home with him that night- assuming that he made it home at all.

Krycek was there to insure that he didn't.

Alex smirked into his drink as he watched the man slap one of the girls on the bottom and send her back to the bar. As a general rule, Krycek shied away from pure money jobs these days. He wasn't going squeamish. Considering the circumstances of most of the people he gunned down- present company included- he was doing the poor bastards a favor- but he had come to hate playing janitor for other people's mistakes. Luckily, this current mark didn't attract a lot of sympathy.

Krycek glanced again at the tableau of debauchery taking place in the corner booth and scrunched his nose in disgust. A redhead girl was straddling the sailor's lap, pushing her breasts in his face. One of the sailor's fat hands, still clutching a shot glass, was wrapped around her waist, while the other pinched a cigarette. Krycek glanced down at his watch.

It was four fifteen in the morning. The sun wouldn't appear for another two hours, but Alex was in a hurry to wrap things up. He was tired, dirty and hungry. He planned to finish the job, choke down some breakfast, and then scurry back to a cheap hotel where he had holed up to catch a few hours of sleep until it was time to slink away again. This wasn't the life he had bargained for. When he started, it was with the understanding that he was only going to be in the game for a few years- just long enough to acquire the money and influence to obtain a pretty house in the suburbs and a job behind a mahogany desk. Krycek had expected to be calling the shots by now, to be one of the men directing the actions of others and then returning home every night to his wife, his dog, and a house full of kids.

Alex choked back a bitter laugh. His mind automatically flashed to the rosy fantasy that he had clung to in the early years- back before hazy promises of knowledge, money and power had lured him into a web of conspiracy that he couldn't have imagined at the start. It made him sick to recall how naïve he had been, how easily he had been manipulated into believing in the illusions held out before him like carrots on a stick.

* * *

He had been young. That was a reason, if not an excuse.

After graduation from High School, his options were limited. He knew that he wanted an education, but fresh out of foster care, with no relatives or friends to speak of, college was out of reach. The Army seemed like a good solution. He wouldn't have to worry about food or shelter, he'd have a chance to see the world, and they would pay for four years of college as soon as he was out. He signed up and shipped out. By the end of basic training, it was clear that he had made a very good choice.

Whether by chance or divine design, the Army turned out to be a perfect match for Krycek's skills. He was smart, athletic and tenacious. He made a top score on the ASVAB, graduated first in his BASIC class and was recruited for Special Forces as soon as he was eligible. He put in for Ranger School- but the powers that be had other plans.

In retrospect, Alex had to admit that the selection committee had been right. The Army Rangers- with their hooah pride and slavish devotion to the tenet of "No man left behind" were the blonde-haired, blue-eyed poster boys of American pride. They were the Army that people wanted to believe in: soldiers who followed their principles fearlessly into the yawning jaws of death. Alex could never quite bring himself to buy in to the cult. He finished the first month of training before he was jerked out and informed of his reassignment to Delta Squadron.

If the Rangers were the shining public face of the U.S. Army, Delta Force was the dark, hidden corner of its soul. Delta was a unit organized around the uncomfortable reality that sometimes it was necessary to take actions were necessary that no one could be proud of. Delta acknowledged the unspoken truth that wars weren't won by a willingness to die for what you believed- it was the willingness to kill.

For sixteen months, Krycek's mind and body had been hammered relentlessly into the mold of the perfect soldier. The mental training had been just as intense as the physical. He learned how to perform low-altitude drops, hostage and information extractions, sniper missions, surveillance, espionage and all of the technical skills of soldiery, but he had also been taught how to numb himself to pain and fear. He had been encouraged to stifle his conscience. He had been trained to believe in the mission at all. Looking back, Alex wondered how much sooner he would have surrendered his soul completely if fate had not granted a brief reprieve.

As a final training operation, Alex and his squadron had been sent to Washington D.C. with instructions to retrieve a file from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It was a "hot" mission- no one at the Pentagon had been warned of the exercise. If anything went wrong, the bullets would be real and the Army would deny all knowledge of the incident. If the mission failed, the entire team would be summarily dismissed. It was the first time that Krycek fully understood just how far they were being asked to go, but he didn't shy away. It was much too late for that.

He was conducting pre-mission surveillance on a member of the Secretary's staff when the man ducked into a corner café. Standing on the sidewalk, waiting for him to emerge, Alex was surprised to realize that he was standing on the same street where he had lived as a little boy.

"My God…Alex?"

It had been five years since he had last heard Ekaterina's voice, but the circumstances of their parting had etched it forever into his memory. Krycek recognized it instantly. He spun around, expecting to find the skinny little girl that haunted his memories, but discovered a grown woman instead.

"Katya?"

Inside the café, his mark was waiting in line for expresso. He would be leaving soon and Alex ought to have been paying attention, but he permitted himself a moment of distraction.

"They said you were in Texas."

Had she always been so sexy? Alex remembered Katya as pretty, but he distinctly did _not_ remember the heavy curve of her breast, or the swell of her bottom- both of which were highlighted by the clingy green sweater that she wore.

"I was." He forced his gaze back up to her face, but he was still distracted. This time, it was by her flashing, almond-shaped eyes.

There was a beat of silence.

"What are you doing back in town?"

"Working," Alex wanted to tell her more, but knew better. He was surprised when she didn't press for more.

"So you won't be here long?"

There was disappointment in her tone, and it warmed him.

"For a little while." Alex glanced inside where the Lieutenant was collecting his coffee.

Katya followed his gaze. "You're waiting for someone- excuse me."

"Work," Alex said again, without pausing to wonder why it was so important for her to know that he was free and single.

She surprised and disappointed him when simply bobbed her head in acceptance. "It was good to see you Alex," she said with a little smile. Then, almost as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone again.

* * *

"_See you tomorrow night, ladies!"_

Alex was jolted out of his memories by a commotion at the far end of the bar. The sailor was finally moving to take his leave. He watched as the other man threw some money on the table and started staggering toward the exit. Alex waited for the door to close behind his prey and then stood up out of his own seat. Moving carefully, making sure that he hadn't captured anybody's attention, he left the bar and stepped out into the night.

The neon signs that lined the road made it almost as bright as day. Alex held back as he watched the other man stumble down the street. After a few blocks, the sailor stepped into an alleyway to relieve himself, unwittingly giving Alex his chance to strike.

It wasn't easy for Alex to shoot since he had lost his arm, and so he was careful lining up his shot. He controlled his breathing as he inched forward into the alley. Closer…_closer…._

A shrill ringtone shattered the silence: Alex had forgotten to turn his cellphone off. He swore under her breath, but it was too late. The sailor spun around at the sound. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the gun. He gaped for just a second, but before Krycek could squeeze off the shot, the sailor bolted away.

Alex swore as the other man darted deeper into the alley. He didn't have any choice but to give chase. Luckily, the sailor's intoxicated condition hampered his efforts to escape. He clipped the edge of a dumpster and stumbled. He couldn't regain his balance fast enough to keep his feet and ended up sprawled face-down in a pile of trash.

Krycek was only a few steps behind.

"Don't-!" the man rolled onto his back and started to plead for mercy.

Alex didn't wait to hear it. He squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession, firing two bullets at point blank range. He nudged the man's body with his foot. Convinced that he was dead, he tossed his pistol into the dumpster and turned to walk away.

The combined effects of adrenaline and the unexpected sprint left him out of breath. Blood was rushing in his ears, which is why he was back on the well-lit street again before he realized that the ringing on his cellphone hadn't stopped.

"Hello?" Krycek snapped, annoyed that the unknown caller had complicated the kill.

"Mr. Krycek…you're up early today."

Alex swallowed hard. This was another voice that he could instantly place. At the first raspy syllable, he could almost smell cigarette smoke swirling through the air.

"Late, actually…What do you want?" he barked, trying to sound more composed than he felt.

"Why do you assume that I want something?" the man said in a taunting tone. He was silent for a moment, no doubt to suck in another lung full of nicotine, before he continued: "Perhaps I just wanted to pass along some information to you."

Krycek grunted in response, unwilling to give his adversary the satisfaction of appearing curious.

"Agent Mulder and Agent Scully were in Virginia today investigating a Doctor Harry Rickman…doesn't that name ring a bell?"

"What about him?" Alex growled. He remembered an assignment to recover a computer disk, but Dr. Rickman had been out of the country at the time and it wasn't a priority mission. It dropped completely off of his radar screen when he left the FBI.

"He has something I want," the man replied calmly. "Something that- I believe- would benefit us both."

"I'm not your little errand boy anymore," Krycek snarled, but couldn't stop himself from asking: "Why should it matter to me?"

"Because Agent Mulder and Agent Scully didn't speak with the good doctor today…they were following up another lead…something else I'm sure that you're familiar with: 2914 Cherry Blossom Lane…Does that ring any bells?"

Alex felt the blood drain from his face. It took a monumental effort to keep his voice strong and composed as he made his reply. "Sorry, I'm drawing a blank."

"That's unfortunate." The man's tone hardened perceptibly. "I'm sure that the woman and little boy who live there would have appreciated your interest. But if you don't care…I'm sure that there are other men who might be interested in…paying a call. I hear there are some people who still need to settle a score or two."

"Listen you bastard! If you-!"

"Deliver the tape to me in 72 hours," the man interrupted. His voice was cold and unyielding. "Bring it to my office- you remember the place."

"You-!" Alex started to shout again, but it wasn't any use. The line had gone dead. He squeezed his hand around the receiver and pressed his eyes shut, forcing back the sense of despair and horror that had started to tighten in his chest.

How had Mulder and Scully found his family? How many other people knew where Katya and Niky were? How was he going to protect them?

Alex leaned against a nearby wall, feeling like dashing his head against the bricks. He squeezed his eyes tight and concentrated on his breathing. It took a few minutes to regain control, but when he did, he knew what he had to do.

Feeling like nothing so much as a man walking toward the gallows, Alex flipped open his phone again. His finger hovered unwillingly over the keypad for a fraction of a second, but finally necessity won out. Alex keyed in the numbers for the phone call that he had prayed he would never have to make.


	4. Chapter 4

Mulder and Scully left Alexandria and got on the Beltway heading north toward Maryland. Traffic on the interstate made the broad strip of pavement look more like a parking lot than a road, and it was more than an hour before they reached their turn.

Gradually, the crowded buildings of Metro D.C. gave way to open meadows and pockets of forest. The setting of the Oakview Retirement Community lived up to its name- a cluster of tall, stately trees ringed the modern building, presenting a welcoming façade to guests.

Mulder and Scully went to reception and were directed to a suite of rooms on the second floor. As soon as they stepped off of the elevator, Scully noticed a short, gray-haired man perusing a stack of charts.

"Dr. Rickman?" she called out. The man looked up. The expression on his face betrayed that he was surprised and not entirely pleased to learn that he had visitors.

" Dr. Rickman…" Scully began again, using her most polite and professional voice," I'm special Agent Dana Scully. This is Agent Fox Mulder. We'd-"

" How did you find me?" the doctor hissed.

Scully stopped, surprised by the harsh interruption and not to certain of how to continue. Mulders stepped in."We located you in the FBI database- it keeps track of hospital admissions in the D.C. area. You had hip surgery at Mercy General last year. We were able to use that information to trace your address and find you here."

Dr. Rickman did not seem reassured by the explanation. If anything, his uneasiness seemed to build.

"You're with the FBI?"

Scully offered her badge for inspection. "Yes, sir. We'd just like to ask you a few questions."

" I have nothing to talk about."

"Maybe you do," Mulder said, his voice a little firmer than before, "Are you aware of an investigation of your practice being conducted by a former agent named Alex Krycek?"

"Alex Krycek?" Dr. Rickman paused to consider the name. "I…surely…? Do you mean Andre Krycek?"

Scully met Mulder's eyes with a questioning look. Did Alex have yet another alias?

Mulder met Scully's gaze with a concerned frown but continued speaking to the doctor in a patient tone, "He's a fairly young man- about six feet tall with brown hair and light green eyes?"

The glimmer of recognition in Rickman's eyes faded and he shook his head vigorously. "No, that's not the man. Andre would be past sixty by now. He was a colleague of mine once…it must have been twenty or thirty years ago by now. I suppose that the name was just a coincidence."

"A coincidence?" Mulder echoed, clearly skeptical that any mystery involving Krycek would happen by chance.

Scully took over the questioning. "We think that Agent Krycek's investigation was connected to your work with the late Doctor Bonita Carne-Sayer."

At the mention of the dead woman's name Doctor Rickman paled.

" You don't know what your own man wanted?"

"Well..."Mulder began uncertainly.

"Agent Krycek is no longer associated with the FBI." Scully offered for him. "We're trying to tie up his open files. It would be extremely helpful if you could tell us about your association with Dr. Carne-Sayer."

"I'm afraid that work was classified," Rickman said.

"Doctor," Mulder's voice was beginning to show his impatience," I assure you that we have Top Secret Clearance for all government information."

" This goes beyond Top Secret. It's-" Dr. Rickman paused, his face betraying recognition of the fact that he had already said too much." I can't help you."

Mulder sighed in frustration and then shoved a card toward the old man's hands." Call us if you reconsider- it could help a lot of people...It could help you."

Dr. Rickman bowed his head." I may be beyond help." he whispered cryptically, "If you found me...they can't be far behind."

The interview was clearly over. After exchanging a look of mutual disappointment, Mulder and Scully headed back to the parking lot.

"Well that was another incredible waste of time." Mulder griped as he waited for Scully to unlock the car.

"Maybe not. Now we know he was connected with the Smallpox project."

Mulder rolled his eyes and muttered something indiscriminate under his breath.

" What did you say?"

"I said 'Casey Milk'- this will probably turn out to be another Casey Milk- we get all worked up , track down leads, interview witnesses, and end up with somebody's grocery list."

"Getting disillusioned with detective work, Mulder?"

"It's a lot more glamorous on TV"

* * *

As if to compensate for him late hours the week before, Mulder was uncharacteristically late on Monday. Scully had already been at her computer for an hour before he arrived.

"Anything up?" he asked casually, not really expecting an answer. He took the morning mail from his "in" box and rifled through it quickly.

"What's this?" he said , stopping at a largish yellow envelope near the bottom of the pile. He tore into it eagerly. There was no note. No marking of any kind.

There was nothing but a small silver disk.

Mulder almost ran to his computer. The twenty seconds it took to boot up the disk seemed like an eternity, and when it finally did..." Dammit!" Mulder slammed his wrists against the desk." It's the same encryption as the State Department disk."

Scully rushed to his side. Her eyes swept over the consonant-rich nonsense words that filled the screen- words she would have dismissed as gibberish if not for their earlier discovery. "Apache?"

" Looks like it." Mulder removed the disk and placed it in his jacket pocket.

"Where did it come from?"

"I'm not sure." He retrieved the envelope from the floor. There was no return address, but he checked the postmark and frowned. "Oakview, Maryland. It was mailed on Saturday."

"That's the day after we visited the retirement center. It must be from Dr. Rickman... But why?"

Mulder was halfway out the door before he answered. " I don't know, but he has some explaining to do."

Scully hurried after her partner to the parking garage." We need to stop at my place before we head to Maryland," Mulder said as he slid behind the wheel."

"You need to get something?"

" No. I want to get rid of this before we go." Mulder tapped the paper sleeve protecting the disk, " I don't want to give Dr. Rickman a chance to reconsider before we find out what it says. And if somebody else knows we have it- I don't want to give them the chance to take it away."

The drive to Mulder's apartment wasn't far. Scully waited in the car while he dashed inside and quickly returned.

"Aren't you a little bit nervous leaving it at your house?" she asked as they pulled back into traffic.

Mulder shook his head." It's in a very good hiding place."

"Do I get to know where this wonderful hiding place is?"

Mulder smiled at her. "How do I know you're the real Scully?" He teased before admitting, " Its behind my Elvis Live in Las Vegas CD."

Scully laughed. "Okay, I admit that it's probably safe. No one but a masochist would look there."


	5. Chapter 5

Mulder knocked for several minutes on Dr. Rickman's door, but there was no reply.

"Can I help you?" A nurse from an adjoining room poked her head inside the doorway.

"We need to speak to Dr. Alan Rickman...is he in some other part of the building?"

The nurses face changed, showing a more genuine interest. " I'm sorry sir. The doctor passed away this weekend."

"He's dead?" Mulder cried, "How?"

" I'm afraid he suffered a heart attack." The nurse answered in a low, soothing voice. "He died peacefully, in his sleep."

" Heart attack?" Mulder said, his voice was thick with suspicion.

Scully placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. " Ms...?"

"Cranson."

"Ms. Cranson," Scully decided to try a calmer, more professional approach," I'm FBI Agent Dana Scully and this is Fox Mulder. We're

investigating a case which concerns Dr. Rickman. I know that this is inconvenient for you, but its very important that we be allowed to examine his body and personal effects."

"Oh dear...I'm afraid that won't be possible." Nurse Cranson looked away ," His daughter came in Sunday morning and collected his things. Men came for his body from the crematorium today."

"Do you have any way we can reach his daughter?" Scully pressed. "Or information on the funeral home that was handling arrangements?"

Ms. Cranson looked helpless."I don't know. He wasn't close with his family...we didn't know he had any until today- no pictures or anything...I can check, though."

"Please do."

The nurse skittered away and Scully turned toward Mulder. His face was stormy." As if she's going to find anything. They killed him Scully."

" It could just be a coincidence."

" A coincidence? A coincidence that he mailed the disk to me hours before he died. He told us Friday that our visit had sealed his fate. Somebody followed us here Scully. He knew it. He-"

The trill of Mulder's cell phone cut off his final sentence.

" Hello?" he snapped into the phone.

"Agent Mulder?" a feminine voice inquired.

"Who is this?" he demanded.

" I'm sorry," the voice hesitated, "This is Katy Krycek...is this a bad time?"

"Oh...no..." the hostility in his voice disappeared. " I'm sorry. I was...in the middle of something...I can talk though" he added quickly, " Did you have something you wanted to tell me?"

_Katy Krycek_ he mouthed to Scully by way of explanation.

"Yes...but..." she hesitated again." I'd rather not discuss it over the phone. Perhaps we could meet somewhere?"

"I'll pick you up at seven." Mulder said quickly as he noticed Nurse Cranson returning." We can go someplace...safe to talk."

"Will Agent Scully be there too?" _Say no_, her voice seemed to beg.

Mulder was surprised by the question. "She doesn't have to be."

Scully and the nurse were talking now, but he couldn't make out what they were saying and pay attention to Katy at the same time." Seven o'clock then?"

"Seven o'clock."

Mulder turned off his cell phone just as Ms. Cranson was walking away.

"I'm afraid your gut feeling was right. She couldn't find any record of Dr. Rickman's family. I got a description of the daughter, but without any leads I don't think its going to help much."

Mulder nodded, as if it were no more than he suspected.

"What was that phone call about?"

"Well, we're making progress in one area at least. Katy Krycek has decided to talk. I meeting her tonight."

"_You _are meeting her…?" Scully spoke the first word with emphasis. "I'm not invited?"

" C'mon Scully, you were pretty short with her Friday. I just think she'd be more comfortable talking to me alone."

" Oh, I don't think you'd mind making her a little more than just comfortable." Scully grumbled." Just remember if you're tempted- you're taking seconds off your sworn enemy."

* * *

Mulder was met at Katy's door by a chubby bleach-blonde teenager who eyed him with appreciation.

"Mrs. Krycek, he's here!" the girl bellowed up the stairs.

"I'll be down in a minute," Katya's voice called back.

The teen stepped aside from the doorway and Mulder stepped into the front hall. Aimlessly, he wandered to a nearby table and began to examine a group of photographs that were on display. One was a copy of the family photo he had found among Alex's belongings. There was a wedding picture, Nick as a baby, vacation snapshots...Mulder's eyes seized on a picture in the back of the grouping and he gasped aloud. In a small, shell rimmed framed was a photo of the entire family on the beach. It was the same sky...the same water...for an instant the faces blurred.

"Sorry you had to wait."

Katy's voice took Mulder by surprise. He spun around. A guilty expression was splashed across his features.

"Oh...no problem, I was just...uh..." he reached for words.

"Looking at the pictures?" Katy finished for him.

"Yeah." He grabbed the one closest at hand, a black-and-white photograph from the Krycek's wedding." I was just thinking that flower wreaths are a good look for Alex."

A look of annoyance flashed across Katya's features, but it was quickly suppressed. She plucked the photo from Mulder's hand and replaced it on the table.

"Those are laurel leaves" she said in a tone that he couldn't read. Was she amused? Exasperated?," We're Eastern Orthodox," she offered by way of explanation. She fussed with the arrangement on the table a moment before turning back around.

For the first time, Mulder noticed how good she looked. She was wearing a sleek sleeveless black dress. The length was conservative, but the neckline was daringly low. Her breasts were cradled in triangles of sheer black netting lined with a champagne-colored silk that tapered into a haltertop around her neck.

"I've overdressed." She said, noticing that he was staring at her,"I'll change."

"No!" Mulder said quickly, embarrassed that she had caught him staring."It's fine."

Katy nodded and picked up her purse. "Amy, I'm leaving." She called into the TV room."My cell phone and the pediatrician's number are by the phone."

"Mom!I don't need a baby-sitter!" Nick's angry but sleepy voice chimed in.

"Goodnight Nick." She said, ignoring his protests. She turned toward Mulder, " Shall we?"

Mulder took Katya to a noisy restaurant in Chinatown. It was busy and dark- the perfect place to go unnoticed. They chitchatted for a while. Katy seemed to be settling into a level of comfort before sharing with Mulder the reason she called. He patiently answered her questions about work, and artfully dodged those about his family.

"That's about all of me there is to know." He said, cutting of another polite but somehow unsettling question about his past. "What about you?"

"Not much to tell." She seemed uncomfortable talking about herself. "I work at Georgetown University-I teach Russian classes right now while I finish up a Ph.D. in linguistics."

"A Ph.D., huh?" Mulder asked, impressed," How'd a smart girl like you end up with a rat like Alex Krycek?"

He regretted the words as soon as they were uttered. In a heartbeat, Katy's face clouded over, he bright smile replaced with a scowl.

"Alex isn't the kind of person the FBI says he is." She said defensively.

_Yeah, right_. Mulder thought.

"He's...brave and honest...and loyal..."

_Not the three adjectives I would have picked, _Mulder thought to himself, but said instead:" Yeah, so loyal he dumped you and your kid for a quick buck."

Katy didn't answer in words. She rose out of her chair and grabbed her coat." I'm sorry, Agent Mulder." She said after taking a moment to regain her calm. "I was mistaken. I don't think I have anything to say to you after all."

"Katy!" Mulder threw some money on the table and followed her into the D.C. night. He caught her wrist just as a cab she had hailed pulled up.

"Jefferson Memorial." He told the driver before she had a chance to protest. "Katy, I'm sorry."

She ignored him. The drive was one of stony silence, but by the time they arrived he could tell by her expression that her anger was beginning to cool.

"You just don't know Alex like I do." She said, as they began a walk around the Tidal Basin." No one does..." her voice trailed off.

"Tell me." he said, more interested in soothing her than hearing about Alex.

"I..."she stopped, as if thinking better of it, but finally gave in: " I knew Alex all my life. We lived in the same neighborhood near M Street in D.C.-same church, same school- our fathers worked together. We weren't really friends. Alex was in…well kind of a different crowd, I guess. We never really talked until that day..."

Katy turned toward Mulder." I guess you know about Alex's parents?"

"He said they were Cold War immigrants from Russia."

"Well, that's part of it." She lost herself in the memory once more."My father was too. They were scientist- otherwise they never would have been allowed to come. They defected in the early sixties. The Kryceks came together, but my married an American woman- my mother- and settled here in D.C…Everything was fine for a while. Alex and I were born. Our parents got their citizenship. But...well, my mother and father...they never really had a happy marriage. I think it was the culture difference. Mom was always so impatient with him. She didn't like his work...she didn't like living in Little Russia...anyway, she began to...well...think up stories. Somehow…she started a story that he was spying for the Soviets."

_Was it really just a story? _Mulder thought instantly, but had learned better than to ask the question out loud. "And?" he said instead.

"Well, you know how it was. People started asking questions..they didn't really need a lot of evidence, only a strong suspicion. ...I remember the night they came to arrest them..."

"Arrest them?"

"Well..." She reconsidered, "To collect them for deportation…it seemed like they were being arrested- only it was worse. If they were sent back to Russia… The punishment for defecting was...a quick death if you were lucky. They came to our house first. Mama must have known they were coming because she locked me upstairs in my room. I was maybe...fifteen."

Mulder could tell by her look that she knew exactly how old she had been- that no detail of that night would ever be erased.

"I climbed out of my window. For some reason crises always make you want to act so noble." she laughed sadly, "Anyway, I decided if I couldn't save Papa, I would save the Kryceks. I ran to their house... but it was too late. I found Alex in the kitchen- they were holding him until child services could come and get him."

"For a fifteen year old?"

"He was sixteen then- but they didn't have any other place to put him. His parents were the only family he had...So...we decided to run away."

She paused and managed a brave smile," The good thing about old world parents-good for us on that night, anyway- was that the Kryceks didn't trust banks very much. They had maybe two thousand dollars in a popsicle box in their freezer. We took it and started off…It seemed like an adventure at first. We weren't very careful with the money. We were concentrating on outsmarting the police- we were so sure every cop in the country was looking for us, " she paused for a moment and grinned at the memory. "We figured they'd look for us in D.C. and New York, so we went West. We went to zoos, theme parks...it was like vacation. I seemed like years, but I guess I was only about a week before our money ran out somewhere in Indianapolis."

"Then what did you do?"

Katy stopped by a park bench and stared out over the calm, black water. "We had just read Crime and Punishment in school- Have you ever read it?-and I have a very active imagination. Do you remember the older sister...the one who has to become a prostitute to feed her starving family?"

"I only read the Cliff Notes." Mulder apologized, momentarily distracted as he pondered the likelihood of anyone's imagination being piqued by that horrible plodding book.

" Anyhow, It was me in a crisis again. I decided it would be noble to sell my body on the street to save Alex and I from starvation." She caught Mulder's amused smile,"You laugh now, but it made perfect sense at the time. The big problem was - I was a virgin." A smile had now begun to show on her lips as well. The absurdity of teenage logic too amusing to deny- even in such desperate circumstances.

"I can see where this is going."

"I thought prostitutes were supposed to...well...know how to do things. So, I convinced Alex to...uh...practice..."

"I'm sure you had to twist his arm." Mulder couldn't resist saying outloud. "Adolescent boys being, after all, so disinterested in sex."

"Not really." she admitted with a grin.

"So, how'd the life of crime go?"

"It didn't. They caught us when we checked out of the hotel. We put the room on my mother's credit card."

"Smart."

Katy shrugged,"My mom came and got me. They sent Alex away somewhere in Texas...I didn't see him for years. He wrote me, but mom intercepted all the letters."

"How long ago was this?"

"Ten, maybe eleven years ago."

"So Nick isn't Alex's son?"

She smiled again." Oh, yes -the legacy of our flight from justice...So...I'm making this story too long. Succinctly, Alex and I met up again four years later. He had been in the Army, and they sent him to D.C. to take some classes. He didn't even know that he had a son. He wanted to spend time with Nick, which meant he spent time with me, and so...we fell in love. I guess it was inevitable after what we went through together. No one else could ever understand what that does to a person."

Mulder nodded eager to get on with it. The story had been enlightening, but it was getting late.

"Why did you call me, Katy? What did you want to tell me?" he asked at last.

She bowed her head. "In the Army...Alex was selected for...special duties. I don't know the man's name, but he came to the house to talk to Alex a lot...Alex was planted in the FBI. He went through the same channels as everybody else, but he was working for those men."

"What was he doing for them?"

"I don't know. He couldn't tell me... he seemed...well, afraid." She bit her lip. "I saw him after he left."

"Who?"

"Alex…After he quit the FBI...he was living out west somewhere. He didn't want me to think that he had...he said they were trying to kill him. That if they came to talk to me...to ask me question...the only person I could trust was you."

Mulder was dumbstruck. "He said that you could trust _me_?"

She nodded, and then wrapped her arms around her own shoulders as if trying to curl into a tiny ball. "I'm afraid" she said in a thin, pained voice that made Mulder want to pull her into his arms.

After debating with himself for a moment he decided to level with

her, "Maybe you should be. That man I asked you about, ? He's dead. We went to talk to him after we left your house - someone must have followed us."

The fear in Katy's eyes grew. "You think Nick and I are in danger?"

"I depends on how much they think you know...You don't know anything else do you ,Katy? Keeping Alex's secrets...they aren't worth dying for."

She shook her head vigorously." No! Nothing else."She looked as if she were about to cry, "Please! Take me home!"

* * *

**AUTHOR****'S NOTE: Okay, sorry- I suck for not posting updates. I got distracted and…forgot. As I said, I wrote this story ages ago (literally half a lifetime- when I was EIGHTEEN, and I'm about to turn 36!), so it is finished…just prod me if I fall off the wagon again!**


	6. Chapter 6

Scully beat Mulder to the office again the next day. When he arrived, she was beginning to unload the contents of a large cardboard box.

"More of Alex's stuff?"

"No- better than that. The municipal police found it abandoned on a park bench in the mall yesterday- some tourists tipped them off."

"And it is of interest to us because…?"

"They tracked the owner down from the inscription in the address book- Dr. Alan Rickman."

Mulder moved closer to the table where she was standing. "Any journals? Computer disks?"

"No- although I can't say I expected to find any. Whoever went through this stuff knew about the disk. That's what they're after." As if to prove her point, she retrieved a can of Colgate Shaving Cream from the pile. She unscrewed the end to reveal a false bottom- and a cache of $100 bills.

"So, we're back to square one."

"Not exactly. These photographs and letters might give us a lead on where to look next."

Scully gathered a pile of papers from the stack and handed them to Mulder. They sifted through them noiselessly for more than an hour.

"Mulder, look at this." Scully said, holding out a picture for him to examine. The paper had begun to yellow and curl at the edges, but the faces of the subjects were still clearly defined. It was a group of eight men (one of them a younger Rickman), standing in lab coats, arranged as if standing for a yearbook snapshot.

Mulder put on his glasses and examined it more closely.

"Oh my God, Scully!" He said in a tone of disbelief." That man standing next to Dr. Rickman- he was the man Alex was joking with at the Gulag in Tunguska."

"Mulder, are you sure?"

"Positive,Scully." He flipped the picture over and scanned for names or other information, but came up empty. "Damn! We have to find out who these men are!"

"Let me see." Scully held the photo up to the light."Are those ID badges?" she pointed to a grainy line just above their shirt pockets.

"I don't know. Let's get this down to the image enhancement lab and have it checked out!"

Mulder hurried off down the hall, and Scully followed him to the crime lab.

Ellen Collier, a slight, middle-aged woman was working in digital imaging. Scully was unusually quiet. The memories of Agent Pendrell were still so fresh- it was hard for her to come here and find someone else.

Though not as personable as Pendrell, Agent Collier proved just as effective. After only a few minutes she had the picture enlarged on her computer monitor. The magnification had reduced the writing to mere blobs.

"Can you make anything out?", Mulder asked impatiently.

"Not yet." She tweaked the image again. " I think this is going to take a while. Why don't you let me call you in your office when I have it finished."

Mulder would clearly rather have stayed, but Scully marshaled him out into the hallway.

"It won't do us any good peering over her shoulder. Maybe we can find something else in Dr. Rickman's belongings."

Reluctantly, Mulder returned with her to the office. They had only been working for a few minutes when the phone rang.

"Agent Mulder?" It was Agent Collier.

"I worked the image out. It was a name all right: Sergei Arntzen"

Scully gasped. "Arntzen! That's the alias Krycek was using!"

Mulder hurriedly typed the name onto his computer. Miraculously, it came back with a match.

"Sergei Arntzen."He read off the screen. " Naturalized US citizen, originating from Russia...pathologist...assigned to something called 'the Argonaut Project'. I wonder what that could be…"

Mulder typed in a query, but this one came up fruitless. Frustrated, he punched in a command for Arntzen's file to print.

Mulder grabbed his coat and keys. "Look over this Scully." he said ,tossing the printout her way, " I need to hit up some friends for some information."

* * *

The offices of the Lone Gunmen always looked the same- a cheerful jumble of papers, computer wires and empty pizza boxes. There was something comforting about the mess, as if it were a burrow against the evils of the outside world. As he expected, Mulder found all three "gunmen" huddled around another amazing discovery. They may not have been the brightest people Mulder knew, but they were among the most helpful and genuine- qualities Mulder had come to prize.

"Mulder. I'm so glad you're here!" . Langly rose from his chair and started toward Mulder with a stack of paper. "Look what Frohike just downloaded off the Internet!"

Mulder took the pages and perused them for a moment.

"Looks like a stack of rocks to me."

"That's what They want you to believe." Frohike called from his perchnear the computer.

"Photographs from the Mars Rover mission" Langly explained. The parenthesis motion he made with his hands underlined his disbelief.

" Now, " Byers said, taking the paper from Mulder's hands and holding it under a pair of cheap cardboard 3-D glasses." Do you see it?"

"See what?" Mulder asked, gamely taking a look.

"It's a mining camp."

"That 'mission crisis' just after the rover landed?" Frohike chimed in." Planned. It gave NASA time to unload."

" Unload what?"

Langly took a breath in preparation for his explanation, but Mulder cut him off.

"This is very interesting, but I came for some help."

"Always glad to be of service" Byers said, setting down the picture.

"I need any information you can find on Sergei Arntzen- a Russian pathologist working around D.C. in the late 60's."

"Specter?"Langley asked no one in particular.

"No, Charring Cross." Byers corrected, equally cryptic.

"You're both wrong" Frohike said, reaching under a stack of newspapers and magically pulling out just the file he was looking for.

"Sergei Arntzen worked on the Argonaut project." He flipped open the folder to reveal the same group shot Scully had found among Rickman's things.

"The Argonaut project?" Mulder's eyes betrayed his interest.

Byers took over. "The Argonaut project was part of the Pentagon's secret research into developing the perfect soldier. The main thrust of inquiry at the time was overcoming biological weapons. The Argonaut project was primarily concerned with resistance to communicable diseases. However, branches in the research covered every imaginable ill: poison ivy, sleeplessness, the common cold..."

"They've had a cure for the common cold since 1972." Frohike interjected.

"...All in the name of building a better soldier."

"Do you have any more information about this 'Arntzen'?" Mulder pressed.

"Sure," Frohike offered him the file." The personnel records are all here...What do you want to know?"

Mulder took the file and perused it. Near the end he did a double take as he read something shocking. "Mind if I take this with me?"

"Actually, we'd rather-"

"Thanks!" He rushed out before they could stop him.

* * *

Mulder pulled up in front of Katy Krycek's house just as she was coming home from work. He grabbed her arm as she reached for the door.

"Just one minute Katy ARNTZEN." He spat.

She spun around to face him, her eyes betraying equal parts fear and defiance. "What do you want from me Agent Mulder?"

"Want? The truth at long last!" He shoved the file into her face.

"Did this just slip your mind?"

"You asked me about Alex- not my father!" She lowered her eyes and waited for his response.

What could he say? It was true, of course, she hadn't actually lied...

"Your father really was a spy."

"What if he was?" She said furiously," Why do I have to live my whole life under his shadow." Her face screwed up in concentration as she fought the tears that seemed forever on the brink of falling. This time, they broke through. "I didn't want you to know because..." her voice trailed off. "Something about you...I wanted you to...to...just think good things about me. So many people...judge you for it. Even though it isn't your fault. I thought the guilt would kill me sometimes"

Katy looked at Mulder with her wide, innocent eyes,"And now poor Nick has to face it too. Sometimes I hate Alex for it...for getting him involved in something like this... They treat Nicky like some sort of bad seed at school. He's always fighting- He's just so angry. I try to punish him, but its hard...hard, because I know how he feels."

She had been speaking more to herself than Agent Mulder, but directed her next words to him." You don't think that just because your father is evil...it makes you evil too?"

"No." No, I don't...Katy…_Mrs. Krycek_- I know exactly what you mean." Mulder swallowed, stunned by the sudden sense of connection that he shared with the weeping woman. He wished that he could tell her why he understood. He slipped an arm around her shoulder.

"We'd better go inside ." Katy said quietly. "I'm giving my neighbor a show."

She unlocked the door and slid inside. "Nick! I'm home!" She called into the strangely dark house.

There wasn't any answer.

"Nicky?" Katy called out for her son a second time, her voice several octaves higher than before. Mulder was momentarily forgotten.

Katy ran up the stairs."Nick! Where are you?"

Sensing her concern, Mulder wandered through the first floor of the house. It was empty.

"Nick!" Katy's voice sounded more and more desperate as she came back downstairs.

"Maybe he's still at school?" Mulder tried to reassure her.

"No!" Katy was frantic now," I talked to him before I left work. He was here. He said he was watching TV" She ran out onto the front porch."Nick!"

"They already picked him up dear." Her nosy neighbor called from across the street.

"They?" Mulder turned toward the woman.

"Those men from the FBI. They said you were expecting them."

Katy looked at Mulder, but he could only shrug. The look of terror and dread that crossed her face was wrenching.

"I'll call." He said softly. "Maybe Scully arranged something and didn't tell me. Just try to stay calm."

Mulder dialed Scully to ask if the Bureau had sent anyone over, but her he already knew the answer: Just like Mulder's sister, Nick was gone- spirited away to atone for his father's sins.

Scully came as soon as she got the call. Her dislike of Mrs., Krycek was temporarily put aside. She tried to calm the other woman as they waited for the FBI Kidnapping unit to set up. Of course, Mulder had decried it all as a waste of time, but at least it felt like they were doing something.

Scully was prepared to stay at the house, but Mulder insisted it should be him. She didn't like it, but she understood. She didn't have to ask why Mulder was so interested in Nick Krycek being found_. Just like Samantha_...she could practically hear the thought repeating in his brain.

* * *

Mulder returned to his apartment to collect his clothes and some toiletry items for his stay. He was surprised that Scully hadn't put up more of a fight. To tell the truth, he would have been a little relieved to let her take his place. He and Katy had gotten so...close. He couldn't let something happen between them. Not now.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice the door to his apartment standing ajar until he had already begun to turn the knob.

Instinctively, he drew his gun and eased slowly around the door. Smoke. Small elegant curls drifting up from a dark figure facing away from the door.

" What in the hell are you doing here?" He spat, without loosening his grip on the pistol.

" I'm here on a mission of mercy." The figure replied, perfectly composed. "I'm here to save you from making a very big mistake."

" I don't want your help."

The man took another drag on his cigarette." Nevertheless, you need it. Getting quite cozy with the wife of our dear friend Krycek, aren't we?"

He was baiting Mulder. He didn't really want an answer.

"What did you do with Nick?"

"Nick?" He casually blew a puff of smoke toward the ceiling." Oh, yes. The little boy...Nothing, I assure you."

Mulder charged toward him." You liar." He held the gun up to the intruder's what? He thought. He had tried to kill him once, but he couldn't. Could he now?

"You lying son of a bitch!"

The man casually brushed the pistol away." Katy Krycek has drawn you into a very dangerous game, Agent Mulder. If you knew what was good for you, you would give the computer disk to me now."

"Disk, what disk?" Mulder feigned innocence.

The man smiled darkly." Very well, if that is how you wish to play..." The man stood up from his seat." I know you don't approve of my..."work", but it is necessary. If those files were released, the results could be disastrous for many innocent people."

"Disastrous for you- because you and the men you work for would be exposed."

"Disastrous for everyone...the Cold War isn't over Agent Mulder, consorting with spies..."

"Katy's father was a spy- not her."

"It's been my experience that the apple never falls far from the tree."

Mulder was furious now. Why couldn't he pull the trigger?

"I'm reminded of some very good advice, Agent Mulder" the man was heading toward the door." Advice which has, I believe, saved your life many times. He flipped his cigarette butt onto the wooden floor and ground it beneath his feet. "Trust no one. The Kryceks are good- they fooled even me- but its the people closest to you are always the first to betray."

With that, he left.

Mulder was still standing in the darkness holding his gun at an empty chair. He inhaled deeply. Had he forgotten to breath. He knew the

man couldn't be trusted...but he had raised doubts. Could Katy be lying? Scully had accused her of "schmoozing up to him", but it hadn't really been that way. She had fought him. He remembered her tear-stained face- so desperate and afraid. It had to be genuine, and why wouldn't it be? Nick was gone. How could the cigarette smoking man explain that? No, Katy was a victim: first of her father and then of her faithless husband. If she had enemies in the Consortium, she was in danger.

He headed back to his car without gathering any clothes. The enemy had found its way into Katy's home before. She wasn't safe there. She would have to stay with him.


	7. Chapter 7

Mulder had never been embarrassed about having anyone over to his apartment before. The small, cluttered bachelor digs suited him perfectly. Suddenly they seemed shabby. Katyana Krycek was like an elegant doll misplaced in some messy closet. He should have taken her to Scully's. She would have been just as safe there. He didn't even have a bed for her to sleep on- but it was too late now.

He laid sheets and a blanket on the sofa and ordered her to try to rest. She looked so pale. She had hardly spoken since the police had arrived. When Mulder told her to come with him, she had merely nodded, never questioning his rationale. She seemed...broken somehow. First her father, then Alex, and now Nick...she had lost everyone she loved.

Mulder turned out the lights and settled down onto the floor next to her. He could hear her muffled crying. It was breaking his heart. She was so young, so innocent... He knew he would probably regret it, but he stood up and walked to the couch. Wordlessly, he laid next to her and enveloped her in his arms. He held her for hours, stroking her silky hair away from her tear-streaked eyes until at last, deep in the night, she had drifted to sleep.

He awoke the next morning with a start, disoriented by the stranger who slumbered in his arms. Slowly, his memories returned, and he planted a soft kiss on her temple. He pushed away from her slowly, so as not to wake her. She would need her rest.

Katy was still sleeping when Mulder emerged from his shower, and he decided to leave her alone. He left a note telling her he would be home at five o'clock, and headed off for work.

* * *

Scully was in a very foul humor. She glared at him as he walked through the door.

"So, no news about Nick Krycek?"

He shook his head.

"Not that you'd know, since you didn't spend the night at Katy Krycek's house. I thought it would be nice of me to stop by there on my way to work."

Mulder winced and pretended to be very interested in pouring a fresh cup of coffee.

"So, how was Katy?" Scully asked. It seemed like a polite conversation, but Mulder could feel the double-entendre lurking there. He and Scully had such a weird relationship. They were never going to get together, but she was so protective of him. In all fairness, he had to admit that he was pretty protective of her too.

"Fine. I finally got her to sleep." He decided to tell Scully about his meeting with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Her concern mirrored his own.

"Do you think its true?" She asked when he finished.

"No, Scully. I don't . He's never cared about anyone but himself. Why should he start know?" But he has helped me before...the tiny voice of doubt chimed in.

"Still, do you think its safe leaving her alone with the disk?"

Mulder hadn't considered that problem before. How much did he trust her?

"I don't think it will be a problem." He voice sounded surer than he felt.

He tried to get some work done, but he was distracted. He oscillated between utter contempt for the idea of suspecting Katy and a paralyzing nervousness that he had been fooled. He called the apartment several times, but there was never any answer. Was she gone? Or merely respecting his privacy?

Finally, the uncertainty became overwhelming.

"I'm going to call it a day." he told Scully around three o'clock.

She nodded, as if she were surprised that he had lasted this long.

He hurried home. Katy was still there, he could hear her moving around as he stood in front of the door. He flung it open.

Boxes and papers were everywhere.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mulder bellowed.

Katy jumped and spun around.

"Mulder!" Katy gasped.

"You heard me, what are you doing?"

Her lower lip began to shake." I was just cleaning up for you...I thought it would be nice...I always clean when I get upset." He examined her closely, the bottle of Tilex and washrag she held in her hands attested to her honesty. He stepped into the apartment. In the kitchen the dishes had been neatly cleaned and stacked. The linoleum gleamed. That floor was whiter than it had been in living memory.

Katy looked deeply into his eyes. She was trembling, but refused to cry. "I didn't touch your stuff. I just moved some stacks so that I could clean around them."

Again, the evidence corroborated her story. Mulder's furious expression slowly faded into a look of shame. Katy had been working all day to do something nice...and this was how he repaid her? He had let his suspicions overwhelm his judgment. Mulder felt like an ass.

"I'm sorry Katy..." he began lamely," I'm just...sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"That's alright." She looked down. "I should have asked first…Have you heard anything about Nicky?"

Mulder felt another wave of self-loathing as he shook his head in the negative, and then watched Katy's face fill with sadness and fear.

He thought that changing the subject would be a good idea."You need to eat something. What do you want for dinner?" he asked.

"Are you cooking?" Katy asked. Mulder was relieved to see the tiny glimmer of a smile on her face.

The thought had never occurred to him. It might be a nice way to repay her for the scene he had caused. " Sure, why not?" He rummaged through the cabinets. "Looks like we're having Macaroni and cheese and fish sticks." He said, a little forlornly as he surveyed he supplies.

"That's okay." Katy's resigned tone confirmed that she hadn't expected anything more.

Katy put away the cleaning supplies. She seemed to have recovered from the shock Mulder had given her, but he could sense that she was still agitated- no doubt worried about her son.

"Why don't you put on some music?" he suggested, thinking some background noise would further soothe her.

" I think I'll change first."

"You look fine."

"Mulder! These are my cleaning clothes!"

She disappeared into the bathroom. He heard the water come on. It was hard to concentrate. She was so close- naked and wet, rubbing rose scented soap onto her creamy white skin...Mulder shook his head. He busied himself with putting the dishes away. Any other time he would have left them alone, but he had to do something, ANYTHING to get Katy Krycek off his mind.

"Come and dance with me Mulder." Katy's voice broke through his musings and surprised him. Glancing at the clock, Mulder say that fifteen minutes had passed. Had he really been that distracted. He turned toward her. She had changed into a short, gauzy sundress than skimmed closely over her breasts and hips. The look of worry in her eyes had evaporated.

She took his wrist and led him into the living room. Strains of "Love Me Tender" floated through the darkened room.

"I'm really not much of a dancer."

"You don't really have to dance." She said, laying her head against

his shoulder. She swayed gently in tune with the music.

"Katy."

"Shhhh..." She laid her finger against his lips." I don't want to talk...or even think..." she added sadly, " Just...just feel."

Katy slid her finger over Mulder's chin, down his neck and over his stomach. His muscles clenched in response- longing toward her touch.

Mulder knew that it was wrong- Katyana Krycek was a victim, grieving over her husband and missing son. She was under his protection- Yet, he couldn't resist her any longer. Mulder lifted her face toward his lips and gathered her into a deep, probing kiss. It felt so good. It felt- What was it she had said about she and Alex?- _inevitable_.

No one else could ever understand what he faced when he lost his sister and realized that his family was to blame. No one but Katy. She had felt the same loss, the same betrayal, the same pain.

The music ended with their bodies still pressed close together. Without really thinking, Mulder steered them both toward the bedroom, shedding clothes as they went. Katy leaned back on his mattress, her dark hair fanning out around her face, her eyes heavy-lidded and full of lust…and he knew that he was lost.

He made love to her- Scully's reminder and the intruder's warning

forgotten. He lost himself in the luxury of Katy's body. She was so warm and responsive. It was as if she had been waiting for him to come to her, as if all their lives they had been made for each other and only just met.

When it was over, he held her tightly.

"Katy..." He breathed her name against her hair and she looked up into his eyes.

"Shhh..." Katy silenced him again with a kiss. "Don't talk." She reminded him. She arose from the bed gloriously unconscious of her naked body. She went to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine. She poured a glass and held it too her lips before offering it to Mulder. He accepted it from her, and she rejoined him in the bed, tracing her finger in patterns across his chest.

Mulder drank the wine and then leaned back against the pillows. Before long, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It was morning. Mulder glanced at the clock. 6:30. The alarm must have woken him up. He didn't ever remember sleeping so soundly.

"Katy?" there was no response. "Katy?" he called again, a little more insistent.

Adrenaline surged through Mulder's veins. He ran to his CD rack and opened the CD case where he had hidden the disk- and then slumped in relief. The disk was still there!

"Katy?" Mulder called a third time, still concerned about her disappearance. He stood up from the couch and nearly tripped over a white paper bag on the floor beside him. He picked it up. Two strawberry iced donuts were inside. A note was taped across the front:

**_I'm sorry to leave like this, but I need some time to think- some time to figure out what I'm going to do next. I'll be back as soon as I can._**

**_ - Katy_**

* * *

"So, do you want to hand off your baby-sitting duties tonight?" Scully asked later that day.

"No."

"Getting cozy?"

"No...its...she isn't staying with me anymore."

"Isn't staying with you anymore?" Scully cocked her head in confusion. "Well, where is she staying then?"

"I'm not really sure."

"What?"

"She just needed some time alone."

"Did she say when she was going to be back?"

"No."

"Mulder-" Scully's voice was strained. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"She checked out, Scully." he took the disk out of his pocket and placed it on the desk." I never should have doubted her."

"That's not what I meant."

Mulder blinked in surprise. Did Scully know that he had slept with Katy? Or did she merely see that he was becoming emotionally involved? How could she have sensed what he was afraid to admit to himself? He examined her face: calm, controlled. How did she feel?  
What would she do if she knew?

"Yeah, Scully. I'm fine." He wanted to tell her more- how he had finally begun to trust, how secure he felt in Katy's arms- but he couldn't bear to hurt her that way. It was a sort of pact between them: if it wasn't spoken, it didn't really happen.

What would he do when Katy returned?

He imagined himself in a sunny future he had never considered before: On the same stretch of northern beach. Dark-haired children splashing in the waves and Katy's voice reminding them not to swim out too far- A family again. And Scully...? Where was Scully? A kind old aunt who sent great birthday presents? A name on a Christmas card list? He couldn't relegate her to that. He didn't want things to ever change...but they would have too.

He sighed and returned to his work. He could worry about that tomorrow- and enjoy today.

* * *

The airport was crowded, but Katyana Krycek spotted her objective immediately after clearing customs.

"Mama!" Nick cried as he ran to meet her. "I missed you so much!"

She threw her arms around him, relieved to see him again." I missed you too!" She reached into her carry-on and extracted a plastic box filled with baseball cards. "You forgot these."

"Thank you mama." Nick opened the lid and began sorting through the cards.

Katy felt an arm go around her waist. She stiffened slightly.

"Did you bring me a present to?" The warm masculine voice relaxed her immediately.

"Yes." She replied. She reached into her bag again and extracted her powder compact." I had to work really hard to get this. You owe me."

The man laughed. "I'm sure I can think of some way to make it up to you," he said coyly.

She met his eyes with a secret smile, before opening the compact to reveal a shiny, silver disk.

"How long until he realizes you have it?"

"Maybe he'll never know. At least not for sure. I replaced it with a decoy."

"He'll know as soon as he runs it."

Katy shrugged nonchalantly. " I put some mumbo jumbo on there. It'll be weeks of decoding before he realizes he has book of Revelations in Navajo."

" ...And another week before he gives up trying to piece together some government conspiracy from the biblical symbolism." He chuckled." Katy, you're brilliant."

"I know."

Alex Krycek gathered his wife into his arms and kissed her."Now, let's get home." he cast a self-conscious glance toward Nick." I believe I have some making up to do.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N - Wow...I feel like a have a LOT to apologize for...First, the 6 months between updates were NOT cool...I'm really sorry about that. Second- I know there may be a lot of continuity errors in this. I wrote this story over Christmas break in December 1996, just after the Terma/Tunguska Arc aired (WELL before the series ended...yes, I am super-proud of myself for calling the "Super Soldier" angle)...Also, I was a silly, 21 year old kid back then (as opposed to a jaded, bitter old thirty-something now ;))...with more life experience, I recognize Mary-Sueish character traits and situations that I would probably not included if I wrote the story over again...but I'm lazy, so that isn't going to happen.**

Thank you for your reviews! They really are a treat! Let me know in the comments if you have any good Krycek recommendations of your own!


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